And Burn They Do! ~ A Review of Declan Finn's "Honor At Stake"

I'm a pretty simple guy. I can enjoy just about any story as long as it is well done and is grounded in a good moral base. That's probably why despite being a big fan of fantasy, I barely read any vampire novels.

Now why is that? Well, it's pretty simple.

I consider Bram Stoker's Dracula one of the best horror stories ever written and thought Stephen King's modern take in Salem's Lot one of the best usage of vampires and the myth I'd ever read (outside of some sticking points like what happened to the priest in a scene involving a crucifix), and the comic book Crimson provided a very fresh take on their origins, with sticking points of its own, but otherwise I really hate the blood suckers and just about every story with them present.

The reason I detest them is simple. They get the rules wrong. Constantly. The stories take away their weaknesses which is the one thing that makes them the most interesting creature and puts them above other monsters. They turn them into little more than walking tanks with an overbite and a skin condition. Then you get to ridiculous stuff like Anne Rice removing all the rules for no reason and the Twilight series not even making the monsters vampires but calling them that regardless, and you have successfully neutered their appeal in every possible way.

Even Joss Whedon lost points by allowing vampires into churches (despite holy water and crosses burning and killing them, I might add) and letting them move over running water thereby allowing them full range of movement. Without the rules, they're too boring to read about and it makes them almost as dull as zombies.

I have read a few of Declan Finn's books before, enjoyed them a good deal, but he managed to hit something with Honor At Stake that I haven't seen in a vampire story in years. Using the religious roots of the monsters, he highlights Bram Stoker's rules in Dracula (which were echoed to an extent in Salem's Lot), and makes the mythos what it was meant to be from the start. He adds his own touches such as in how the vampire's soul is affected by the transformation, which was honestly never clear in Stoker's work, and how they are able to turn into vampires in the first place.

More than the rules, he hits vampires with his own style of action and suspense, bringing about a sense of fun with the creature that hadn't been hit at a similar level since probably something as old as The Lost Boys. (Keep in mind, I mean enjoyability. Not accuracy. It's not a great film.)

But that would be selling this book short if getting the rules right was enough.

In Honor At Stake there is a growing romance, ninjas, gang fights, explosions, and a pace that never lets up once it starts rolling. The characters are fun to follow, leading with a duo in which one is a psycho and the other a vampire and you might get an idea of how the dynamics between the pair work. The setting, New York City, really comes alive here in the setting where vampires might not be the worst thing you could possibly run into on a bad day. The book's got a cracking sense of humor to go with the drama and action, as you can see.

The plot involves the two main characters, Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt, slowly getting closer to each other while realizing they don't actually know as much about each other as they thought. At the same time, violent attacks seem to be popping up all over the place involving bite marks and drained blood, signs that something bad is on the way to New York. But I really don't want to explain more than that to avoid getting into spoiler territory. The book unfolds at such a good pace that you'll be hooked in really quick.

It's a shame that vampires no longer inspire works like this, usually being little more than allowing erotic fantasies to come to play for the author in place of characters or plot. Declan Finn shows that not only does he get the appeal of the vampire monster, but doesn't miss the point of why they're a threat in the first place. Just a good job all the way around.

About the only fault is a bit of a slow start, but once you get past it, it never lets up until the end. I had a lot of fun with this book.

One of the best vampire stories in recent times. Don't miss it!

Heroes at the Top

Volume 1 review

Volume 2 review

You know, I don't read much manga these days. I mostly stick with the old school where heroes are heroes but they also have brains in their heads to think out problems instead of rushing in unprepared. I've probably posted about that before, but it needs to be restated.

So getting into volume 3 of My Hero Academia made me more than bit worried. Sure I enjoyed the first two volumes, but would it continue its fresh yet traditional take on heroes and old school action manga, or would it devolve to a formula of mindless fight after fight where nothing really matters at all.

However, there is nothing to worry about. Volume 3 of My Hero Academia is even better than the first two. As Izuku Midoriya, our main character quickly learns, the world of being a superhero is more challenging than even he thought it would be. Not only does he have to fight off a group of villains coming for his personal hero, All Might, thirsting for blood but he has to prove to the hero world that he has what it takes to rise to the top.

While volume 1 was more of an introduction to the world of My Hero Academia, a world where 80% of the world's population has a power (called a "quirk") of some kind and how some rise as heroes with their quirks to protect people, and volume 2 went deeper into the characters and their quirks, volume 3 one-ups them both. Kohei Horikoshi showed that there is definitive good in the world with his heroes in the first two volumes, and now we meet definitive evil as the villains introduced want nothing more than to tear the world of heroes, and the world of good, to pieces.

Not only that, but the fight scenes are very thoughtful for an action series like this. Midoriya thinks things out the whole way, trying new paths with his quirk, using the environment to his advantage, and building up the courage he never had to become better. The fight scenes show that the villains are for keeps, and that there is no playing around when they're involved.

But outside of the villains, there is something called the Sports Festival that U.A. Hero Academy holds every year to let young aspiring heroes show their stuff. It's a bit like an Olympic event to let them cut loose and compete to become number one and get offers in the hero world for various things. There are multiple events where more participants get eliminated until only one left standing, though we only see the first in this volume. Just based on that, though, we are in for a treat.

So all in all, three volumes in and My Hero Academia is only improving. I can't wait for the anime to come out in April and hopefully lead more people to this great series. As far as superhero comics and shonen manga go, this is one of the best at both out there.

Slow Week

Today I picked up a handful of books at the hospital not only for me, but for my mother to read as well. A couple of Crichton and Janet Evanovich books as well as the Caine Mutiny are now on my shelf. I suppose they'll match my copies of Nethereal by Brian Niemeier, Honor At Stake by Declan Finn, and Burn Witch Burn! by A. Merritt on their way in the mail as books I'll hopefully get around to reading soon.

I say hopefully because I've been slowly editing my novel back from November which has cut into my reading time quite a bit. I'd like to say that's my only problem, which is actually one of being too easily distracted, but I do hope to have something out by this year. My lone short story from last year (which wasn't even professionally edited) isn't going to cut it, I know.

Finally, I realize most of my updates have been on Fridays recently and I couldn't tell you why other than I tend to forget about this blog when it comes to writing. I usually devote the time to that instead. It's also, as you can tell, because I'm a very boring guy who just doesn't have much to say a lot of the time. Still, that's something I also hope can change this year. We're out of the worst month of the year so at least there's that.

As for right now, well, I've got a Doc Savage to finish off.

The Worm Turns

As my previous post indicated, I have started reading "The Worm Ouroboros" which is a fantasy novel of an older kind. A pre-Tolkien kind. In fact, he was inspired by much of this book for his own works.

But it isn't a book for everyone. I'm only four chapters in, but the story moves at a very lax place. Settling you gently into this rough yet beautiful Celtic landscape and setting with characters that are at both wondrous and terrifying. This is a fantasy that draws me in while keeping me at a distance.

In fact, I've been mostly interested in looking into pre-Tolkien fantasy recently. As much as I love Tolkien's stories, he started a trend that everyone else tightly grappled on to without carrying over any of his beautiful themes or fascinating characters. Much as I've been reading things like A Princess of Mars in regards to Science Fiction I've also been looking further back for Fantasy. Reading recent opinions on the Appendix N listing (a list of stories that inspired Dungeons & Dragons, which in turn pretty much took over the genre) has me interested in what is missing nowadays.

And reading The Worm Ouroboros really shows me there is something missing. I don't mean the archaic language (as it doesn't fit every story) or the lax pace, but the larger than life feeling of fantasy as larger than yourself and your world. A story that goes beyond. Larger than life characters that aim high, settings that seem somewhat possible but are not, and a sense of purpose and peace with this crazy magical world we might never understand but know that we will find our place in it.

It's an essence Tolkien and those that came before caught like lightning in a bottle but I don't see too often anymore. Of course I haven't read everything out there, but it is definitely not the standard of the genre anymore.

Still, this is the age of the indie book. The indie author. Anything goes these days. With the gatekeepers dying off, we could see almost anything now. And I'd like to hope we will.

As for me, well, I hope this is the year I can finally show my stuff. Will I be aiming as high as Eddison or Tolkien? Probably not. But that doesn't mean I don't have my own place out there with what I'm doing. Fantasy is more than archaic settings and dialogue. It's also a genre about superversive ideas and themes, a place for imagination and wonder, and a hope in eternity.

At least there, I hope I can aim high.

Quote Time

"Let worthy minds ne'er stagger in distrust
To suffer death or shame for what is just"

- From "The Worm Ouroboros" by E.R. Eddison

Legends of Tomorrow Premiere Thoughts

The newest superhero show by the team that brought us Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl, has just premiered on The CW on Thursday night. What did I think?

Well, it was the best premiere episode of any superhero show thus far.

Already there are critics whining about "campiness" and "wooden performances" and any other sort of nonsense. I have to wonder if any of them watched the same show I did. It's no campier than Doctor Who and it certainly doesn't feature wooden performances to any of us who have watched any of these shows before, and above all else it is the most FUN a television show has been in years.

That's right, in an age where everything has to be serious business edgy or dark and nihilistic, Legends of Tomorrow pops out of the box with a delicious Silver Age comic taste and un-apologetically delivers on action, comedy, adventure, and the most thrilling ride I've had on a TV show in a long time. Of course, this is just the premiere, so things can change, but that the staff and cast had the guts to go all out retro and fun with this show gave it both its own identity and a set up for potential greatness down the line.

Was it perfect? Not entirely, after a great first half, the show slows down a bit with a bar fight and a confrontation with a villain ends sloppier than it probably should, but those are VERY minor quibbles.

The Atom and Rip Hunter are the straight men characters that a show like this needs with the latter turning in a very outlaw-esque performance, Firestorm is both the team brain and every-man, The Hawk lovers add a romance bent, and the trio of White Canary, Captain Cold, and Heat Wave, are the muscle and morally ambiguous characters that you both want to root for and hope can grow up during their journey. For such a large main cast, every character has chemistry with every other, which not only leads to some good comedic moments but satisfying drama as well.

But the set up was so well done, the tone is so unabashedly bright and fun, and the cast is so well picked, that I welcome any future episodes with open arms. This story can really go anywhere at this point.

So I say, be wary of the critics on this one just as you are when it comes to superhero and action films. Watch it for yourself to see, but I bet if you are a fan of pre-2000 comic books at all, you will have a new favorite show to watch every week. It's just that good.

And I, for one, cannot wait until next Thursday to see more.

Tricky things

I was going to sit down and write a nice blog post, but my mind went nutty on me and I've completely forgotten what I was going to write about. Some times I wonder how I remember to get dressed in the morning.

Instead I'll just make this post about a quick update. And I would like to pray for the soul of Alan Rickman, one of my favorite actors. He will be missed.

I've been reading A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs and have been surprised at how well the story holds up despite being a century old. The best stories always age well. The writing is a bit overstuffed without being purple prose, but it is highly enjoyable. I've always wanted to catch up on the older stuff I've missed from before I was born, and this book fits into that mold perfectly. Really can't wait to get around to reading the next two books (in the edition I have, it includes all three original books) next.

What else? Oh, I started a new game of Fiasco with one of my friends. However, we've heavily tweaked the rules and tilt tables to allow for serial play and more varied possibilities in the results. I'm not such a fan of Coen Brothers movies like the game is based on, but storytelling games are fun. I decided to call the tweaked version "Endeavor" for more of a serial like name. Who knows if that will ever stick, though.

Otherwise it's been pretty slow just like every January. January is the worst month of the year with nothing to do and no one who wants to do anything, and I honestly can never wait until its done.

But I still have some weeks left to go, as do you. At least we're halfway there!

Thought for the New Year

For my first post the year I thought I would try something a bit more general.

Yes, the world is in the toilet and recent worldwide events over the last week alone constantly remind us of this. Yes, people are getting more hateful and self-centered (I am not immune to this in any way, trust me). Yes, it feels like there are only bad times ahead.

But you can only do what you can do. The right thing to do, to help when you can, and to never give up when you are close to reaching your goal, is all you can do.

The world will not get better tomorrow, in fact, it may only get worse. But you aren't here to worry about that. You are here to deal with what you have to deal with, that which is in front of you. That old saying about acting locally and thinking globally is only part right. Thinking globally will not help you to act locally. You cannot change the world on your own-- no person can. What you can do is the little things tat make life better for those around you.

Speak the truth in love, fight those who wish you and yours ill, and always do what needs to be done. That may be vague enough to be confusing, but that's really all anyone can do to fix the world around them. If only I could do that more often.

Just remember that the world won't end tomorrow. You will wake up tomorrow and, God willing, you won't be blind, have broken legs, or a sudden bout of the flu. And some days that's just enough to get you going.

Sorry about the randomness of this post. It's just something I felt I had to get out there.